The Other Scott Walker Scandal

Off The Grid’s Alex Logan reveals another case of political gameplay involving the Wisconsin Governor that no one is talking about.

Some politicians want you to believe that voter fraud is rampant in our country by creating obstacles and requirements that do nothing more than make voting more difficult.

But if you look at the statistics, the worse problem is voter turnout. November 2014 had the worst voter turnout in 72 years. Nationally, only 36% of eligible voters participated. And the highest nationwide voter turnout in the past 100 years was 1960, when about 63% of the country showed up to elect John F. Kennedy to Commander in Chief.

If people aren’t going to show up on their own accord, should we look at an option like Australia's compulsory voting, where you are fined $20 if you don’t show up to vote and voter turnaround is around 85%?

Let’s turn our attention to why -- one factor could be state governments’ campaigns to suppress voters by enacting I.D. laws.

Wisconsin recently tried to fight Governor Scott Walker’s strict voter I.D. law that was enacted in 2011. Despite the ACLU’s best efforts to “add additional kinds of identification to its short list,” Federal District Court Lynn Adelman wrote in his decision, “The state had to draw the line between acceptable and unacceptable forms of id somewhere.”

The ACLU lawsuit represented “a formerly homeless army veteran, several technical college students [with out-of-state IDs], and an elderly voter who couldn’t access her birth certificate.” And ACLU Voting Rights Director Dale Ho released in his statement following the decision, “It’s unconscionable that even veterans, who have so valiantly served our country, can’t use their government-issued IDs under this law.”

After this law passed in 2011, Governor Walker closed ten offices that issued ids in order to expand hours elsewhere -- which one democratic lawmaker noted that he was clearly “targeting offices for closure in democratic areas and expanding hours for those in republican districts.”

Despite public outcry in Wisconsin, the exact same thing happened in Alabama! In 2014, a voter ID law passed in the state, and later, “every single county in which blacks make up more than 75% of registered voters [saw] their [driver’s] license office closed. Every one.”

Despite almost no voter fraud being found in Alabama -- even after a $1,000 reward was put up for anyone with information that led to a conviction -- Republican lawmakers assured us this has nothing to do with suppressing the people who often vote Democrat.

What do you think, vigilant viewers: is this about protecting us from voter fraud? Sound off below!

As cohost of the political commentary series, Jesse Ventura's Off the Grid, Alex Logan is The Body's body man. Alex and the former governor, action star, wrestler, and everything else in between, tackle the headlines of the week with an uncensored and independent spirit as we hold the two parties' feet to the fire.
A deserter of Dayton, Ohio, Alex graduated from the University of Southern California Film School with a degree in Writing for Screen and TV. Alex has assisted in the booking of live acts for the Creative Artists Agency; written jokes, sketches and stunts for MTV and producer Johnny Knoxville; developed treatments and scripts for Anonymous Content and Mark Gordon Productions; and co-founded the Improv Olympic West’s headliner sketch group, The Mutiny, who play sold out shows around LA and at the Chicago and San Francisco Sketch Fests, as well as producing numerous videos for the front pages of YouTube, College Humor, and Funny Or Die.
He did a stint as Editor and Technical Producer on Larry King’s Hulu talk show before partnering with Larry and Jesse to co-create Off the Grid. In the first season, Alex co-headed the entire production, writing, producing, and cohosting over 150 episodes. And he's back for Season Two, now serving as producer and host of a series of Man on the Street field pieces called, On the Grid. He also wrote this professional bio with his own two hands.

The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ora Media, LLC its affiliates, or its employees.